With summer in full swing here in Finland, thoughts turn to alfresco dining, barbeques, sitting by a lake or river, holidays and white wine.  So this article will be about which of the New World white wines I like most.  I’ve tried to look at wines of reasonable price, that is up to about 15 euros, with a couple of choices which I consider absolute diamonds amongst those available through Alko.  I’ve also listed them by grape varieties, then countries within each variety.  My recommendations start with my favourite in each variety and so on down the list.

Please note that I haven’t tried all of the wines available through Alko, so would welcome feedback on what readers think are wines worth drinking.  

I am looking forward to writing a similar article on New World red wines as we head into autumn/winter.

One of my favourite varieties, predominantly from Australia, where winemakers have turned this wine from the German-style which is sweeter and with a strong taste of apple into a style of wine which is more subtle, fresh, citrus and slightly acidic in taste and has a very clean, dry finish. For summer drinking, these are best drunk in the first year or two after vintage when they are at their freshest. These are wines ideal to drink with mild cheeses before a meal, salads, most fish and seafood.  There isn’t much choice in this category in Alko with a few from Australia and New Zealand.  My recommendations are:

	Yalumba ‘Y’ series Riesling 2006 – Australia – €9.93 An excellent wine from South Australia and a good example of the Australian Riesling style.  A light style, pale straw in colour, with a lovely citrus, acidic taste.  Typical of Australian Riesling, there is not much nose to the wine.  A dry, clean finish.  Excellent value.
	Penfolds Rawson’s Retreat Riesling 2006 – Australia – €7.98 A more commercial wine from southern Australia, made by Australia’s largest wine company.  This is similar to the above Yalumba wine but not quite as good, although it still shows the varietal style of the Australian Riesling. Good value for the money.

 

This is a wine style which has brought New World white wines to the attention of European and American wine drinkers.  These are made in all New World countries, with the best coming from New Zealand.  These are wines best drunk, like riesling, in the first two years after vintage when at their freshest.  Unlike riesling, these wines have a very distinctive nose of freshly mown grass.  They do taste sweet with flavours of berries or passionfruit, but usually have a clean, dry finish.  Overall they tend to be very refreshing wines.  Sometimes this variety is blended with other varieties such as semillon or chardonnay to add more fullness to its taste.  These wines are ideal for summer with or without food.  Typical of most white wines, these are best drunk with milder cheeses, fish and seafood.

	Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – New Zealand (Uusi-Seelanti) - €23.80 An absolute world-class gem and considered by many to be the best in the world of this grape variety!! –This is a beautiful wine tasting of gooseberries and melons – very refreshing and crisp.  An immense grassy nose with a clean, dry finish.  This is the wine you’d love to drink every day if you could afford to, but certainly a wine for the more special occasion.  Treat yourself to this one!  An expensive wine but still an excellent value considering the quality.  I can’t recommend this wine more highly.
	Ninth Island Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – Australia - €13.44 An excellent wine from Tasmania from one of the best wine companies of that state, Piper’s Brook.  This wine exhibits all the classic characteristics of a good sauvignon blanc and comes highly recommended.  Very good value.
	Trapiche Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – Argentina - €6.98 An easy-drinking wine, this one from Argentina, showing most of the characteristics of the variety. This is a well-balanced wine with good fruit characters. Very good value for the price.  A good quaffing wine.
	Sunrise Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – Chile - €6.98 Another easy-drinking wine, this one from Chile, showing most of the characteristics of the variety. Good value for the price.  A good quaffing wine
	Nederburg Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – South Africa (Etelä-Afrikka) - €7.98 An easy-drinking wine from South Africa, showing most of the characteristics of the variety.  A good wine for the price.
	Sauvignon Blanc blends
	Tarapaca Sauvignon Blanc Chardonnay Viognier 2006 – Chile - €8.98 This is a quite interesting, unique wine, worth trying just for the taste of a wine I’d never tasted with this combination of varieties.  It is quite fruity, with a bit more body from the addition of the viognier – good fruit taste with some acid, but still maintaining a crisp, clean finish.  Good value for the price.
	Wolf Blass Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – Australia - €8.99 This is also a quite interesting wine, worth trying if you’ve never tried this combination of varieties.  This blend is common in Australia as it adds fullness to the freshness of the sauvignon blanc. It is quite fruity, with more body from the addition of the semillon – good fruit taste with a hint of lime and mildly acidic, but still maintaining a crisp, clean finish.  Worth comparing this wine with the one below.  Good value for the price.
	Pinnacle Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2005 – Australia - €8.99 Similar to the Wolf Blass wine above, but with the sauvignon blanc being less dominant, possibly because it’s a year older.  Worth comparing one with the other to see which you prefer.  Another good value wine.

 

Many people had their first experience of wines from the New World with the chardonnays from Australia in the 1980s.  Those were wines of great character, heavily-wooded (some say that you could taste the splinters) with exposure to oak and tasting of tropical fruit, but still dry and crisp.  That style has been tempered over the last ten years or so with better balance between fruit and oak.   A few have not been exposed to wood at all, the so-called unwooded chardonnays.  If wooded, there is usually a hint of toast and vanilla on the nose.  The unwooded wines emphasise the fruit character of the grape with luscious tastes of melons and pineapple.  Try the Unwooded Chardonnay from Montana in comparison with the Wolf Blass Yellow Label.

I must admit I haven’t tried many of the chardonnays from Chile (and Alko has a wide range), so I’d be interested in readers’ views on these.

	Montana Unwooded Chardonnay 2005 – New Zealand (Uusi-Seelanti) - €9.99 A very good example of a fruit-driven unwooded chardonnay.  The New Zealand chardonnays are rapidly improving in quality and this one has lovely tropical fruit characters of pineapple.  Very good value for the money.
	Wolf Blass Yellow Label Chardonnay 2005 – Australia - €11.85 This is a good example of a typical full-bodied Australian chardonnay with a good balance between oak and fruit.  There is a hint of toast and vanilla on the nose as well as the typical tropical fruit of the variety.  Another good value wine.
	Sunrise Chardonnay 2006 – Chile - €6.98 Another easy drinking wine from this label, showing most characteristics of the variety. A hint of oak on the nose and pineapple to the taste.  A good wine for the money.  A good quaffing wine.
	Fair Hills Chardonnay 2006 – South Africa (Etelä-Afrikka) - €7.56 One of the few I’ve tried from South Africa, but it is quite well-balanced and full-bodied.  Worth trying.

 

My last wine is another of those gems which is worth trying for that special occasion.  This is a made when the weather is favourable enough to leave the grapes on the vine for about two months after normal maturity.  The grapes may then be affected by ‘noble rot’ or botrytis, which concentrates the sugar and acid to produce a sauterne-like dessert wine

De Bortoli’s Noble One Botrytis Semillon 2002 - Australia - €19.75 (375 ml) A very sweet wine tasting of honey and apricots, it is very luscious but still with a clean, crisp finish.  Try it with fresh fruit or a lovely brie cheese after dinner.  A must try!!  Excellent value if compared with the top sauternes from France.